News you can use
News you can use
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HELEN (AP) — Helena police say a stolen vehicle driven by a young woman narrowly missed crashing into the Montana Capitol while officers were in pursuit. Workers in the Capitol say the Jeep Cherokee sped past their windows before stopping just inches from the large concrete steps leading to the building Monday morning. The parking drive is a dead-end. The driver faces several felony charges. Police say 21-year-old Sarah E. Bunker of Butte fled on foot only to be caught two blocks away. A passenger in the vehicle was i...
HELENA (AP) — Montana's jeans-wearing, gun-toting Democratic governor is stealing the thunder from a tea party-fueled Republican resurgence — and tweaking the new GOP Legislature in the process — with a unique plan from a Democrat to cut business taxes during a flagging economy. Brian Schweitzer, an expert at reading the shifting political winds, surprised many political observers when he promised businesses millions in tax cuts as part of his budget proposal earlier this month. The Democrat said a tax cut for compa...
MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer asked the new Republican legislative leaders to fully consider his proposals and promised to do the same with theirs. Schweitzer has at times had a confrontational relationship with past legislative leaders, but both sides were notably friendly during Tuesday's meeting in the governor's office. They discussed some issues expected to be sticking points. House Speaker-elect Mike Milburn of Cascade says the Republicans are leery of using one-time sources of money to b...
MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — Republicans soon to hold a majority in the Montana House picked a leader on Wednesday who promised a pragmatic approach to spending cuts, as well as a long-term strategy to shrinking government. State Rep. Mike Milburn, of Cascade, was picked by fellow Republicans as their new speaker during legislative leadership elections, a tempered choice compared to Rep. Krayton Kerns, a Laurel lawmaker who cast himself as an ardent tea party favorite. Milburn said both he and Kerns are very conserv...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is making another run at getting cheap prescription drugs for everyone in his state — and trying to make it harder for the federal government to say no. Schweitzer says he wants to let everyone in Montana buy drugs at the ultra-cheap rate the government pays through Medicaid. He says it is far less expensive than the price for those on Medicare. Schweitzer says all Montanans would save money by buying drugs at cost through his proposed Medicaid Part D program. It is the gov...
HELENA (AP) — Gov. Brian Schweitzer launched plans Monday to cut almost all the state's tax on business equipment and give homeowners a property tax refund as part of his budget plan — making tax relief a primary goal even before Republican lawmakers taking over the Legislature have a chance to do so. The Democratic governor unveiled the highlights of his budget plan to a room full of agency directors, staff and a few Republicans who will be running the Legislature at the start of the year. Schweitzer said his budget increase...
HELENA (AP) — Gov. Brian Schweitzer says state workers will get a four percent raise over two years beginning in 2012 under a proposed deal with employee unions. But the first pay raise the workers have seen in two years may not be enough to cover anticipated increases in health insurance costs that they will also face. Schweitzer said Wednesday the agreement is a good deal for the state and was the product of tough negotiation. Union leaders say they are encouraging their members to approve the proposal. After that, it w...
HELENA — Former Congressman Rick Hill's entrance into the race of Republicans seeking the party's 2012 gubernatorial nomination raises questions of who will be seen as the conservative choice. Former state Sens. Ken Miller of Laurel and Corey Stapleton of Billings are the other candidates. But Hill is likely the best known of the three after serving two terms in Congress in the late 1990s, while the others have not held statewide elected office. Hill's campaign announcement speech on Monday advanced a fiscal conservative t...
HELENA (AP) — Republicans given historic margins in the next Legislature say their focus should be on smaller government and lower taxes — a message reminiscent of 16 years ago when voter resentment of Democrats in Washington D.C. also gave the GOP huge majorities back in Montana. Republicans will hold a nearly unprecedented governing majority in the state House that convenes in January, probably as many as 68 seats once a few of the tightest races are certified by election officials. It is among the largest governing maj...
Former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill to run for governor HELENA (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill made it clear Friday he will be running for governor in 2012, scheduling a formal announcement for Monday. Word of the Republican's candidacy, long expected, comes after some of the biggest election wins seen by the GOP in years. The Republicans dominated state legislative elections, securing the biggest lead in the state House either party has had in decades. Hill retired from Congress in 1999 after two terms due to eye problems. He h...
Republicans take control of state House HELENA (AP) — Republicans have swept Democrats out of the Montana House, with election returns indicating the GOP may have won as many as 68 of the chamber's 100 seats. Observers say a national backlash that caused Democrats to lose the U.S. House has trickled down to the state legislative races. Going into Tuesday's election, Democrats held organizational control of a House split evenly 50-50. The chamber has been managed under close margins for years. With several races still too t...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Montana GOP is confident a rising tide of conservative politics nationwide will trickle down into the state's local races and give Republicans full control of the Legislature for the first time in six years. Democrats believe their effectiveness in running the state will be rewarded on Election Day. In the weeks leading up to Tuesday's election, Republicans have launched an aggressive campaign spurred by anger from their base over federal health care reform and spending as they vowed to use control o...
Conservative groups challenge Mont. ethics chief MATT GOURAS,Associated Press HELENA (AP) — Conservative groups have renewed their assault on Montana campaign finance rules with a new lawsuit and allegations of "frivolous investigations." The lawsuit comes as the organization that challenged the state campaign finance law's constitutionality resumed sending attack political mailers. Western Tradition Partnership is sending the mailers in apparent defiance of a finding last week by the state's political practices chief that t...
HELENA (AP) — A poll released Friday shows Montana voters largely favor the state ballot initiatives in Tuesday's election and they want the Legislature to crack down on medical marijuana and drunk driving. The Montana State University-Billings also found that nearly 60 percent of voters are undecided in the race for a Montana Supreme Court seat. Those who picked a candidate were evenly split between attorney Beth Baker and district court judge Nels Swandal, with each getting support from about 20 percent of the r...
The Montana Board of Regents put a framework in place Thursday that would allow for cuts of up to 5 percent in the university system, the first of the state agencies to publicly heed the governor's request to do so. The board decided unanimously during a conference call to honor Gov. Brian Schweitzer's request to start planning for such cuts, even though it has unique constitutional authority among executive branch agencies to establish its own budget. The board recognized the cuts are needed as Montana grapples with...
The Board of Regents will evaluate budget cuts of up to 5 percent for the state's colleges and universities at a meeting this week. The regents have decided to join other state agencies that are drafting the proposed budget cuts following a request from Gov. Brian Schweitzer — even though the university system has the authority to establish its own spending priorities. "The regents want to be responsible leaders in the state and contribute as much as possible," Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns said of the effor...
U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg said Monday that he could support U.S. Sen. Jon Tester's plan to expand wilderness and increase logging - but only with more assurances that the logging will occur. Rehberg, who has held 22 meetings on the measure, said he doesn't think Tester's plan accomplishes its intended goals the way it's written. Tester's bill would create more than 600,000 acres of wilderness, mostly in southwestern Montana's Beaverhead- Deerlodge National Forest, and mandate 70,000 acres of logging in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge...
Few governors with political aspirations would bother to debate a riled-up city commission, on their turf and in front of television cameras, over its "misuse" of federal stimulus money. Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer did — and relished every minute of it. Picking on the tiny sliver of stimulus funding has created a buzz and ,along with tough budget talk, has helped burnish the fiscal conservative credentials of a popular term-limited governor — but one who has no apparent place to go next. The unusual Democrat continues to...
A key union leader for Montana state and university employees says he will not bargain another salary freeze with the governor — drawing a line in the sand amid what is expected to be a very tight budget process. The gove rno r ' s o f f i c e responded by saying that tough economic times means everyone — including state employees — need to have reduced expectations. Budget Director David Ewer did not rule out the possibility of a pay freeze. Eric Feaver, the forceful voice at the legislature and elsewhere for an influ...
U. S. Sen. Jon Tester released some changes Thursday to his logging and wilderness bill, beating back a Washington, D.C.- based rewrite of the carefully crafted Montana compromise. Tester said the bill would die without the logging mandates a Senate committee removed from his plan. He has put them back in the bill, another step in what he characterized as a long road to declare the first new wilderness areas in decades. "The process to get a bill through, even if it is a simple bill, always takes time and there is always...
The Montana Land Board endorsed a plan Monday to use roughly $40 million from a settlement with PPL Montana to buy more state land, over the objections of some lawmakers who say only the Legislature can make such a move. The money comes from a state Supreme Court order that says PPL Montana needs to pay rent for the land its hydroelectric dams sit on. Part of that order included damages owed the state in excess of $40 million. The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation said the money would likely best be used by...
Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Wednesday he wants ideas from the public on how the state can save money without reducing services, and he promises to implement the plan that gets the most votes. Schweitzer said ideas will be collected over the Internet through the end of March, then four finalists will be put up for a public vote on the state Web site. The person who submitted the top vote-getter will receive a palladium coin worth $400 donated by Montana's Stillwater Mine, Schweitzer said. There are some catches. The idea has...
A state agency that sued The Associated Press over a request to see documents on alleged sexual misconduct of prison employees must hand over the records, a Helena judge decided in the constitutional right-to-know case. The issue stems from the resignation of four female Montana State Prison employees and the departure of one male employee after allegations surfaced of employee sexual misconduct with a male inmate in late 2008. The AP later sought the investigation documents — prompting the state to sue the news o...
State budget cuts could be getting far more severe following an order Tuesday from the governor that agencies prepare contingency plans for 5 percent spending reductions, a move that surprised legislative leaders who were not told of the plans. Gov. Brian Schweitzer made the announcement following a string of reports showing the state budget picture is getting worse, not better. A report due out today is expected to make an even gloomier forecast. Schweitzer said state law gives him the authority to cut spending if projected...
The Montana Supreme Court said Thursday that nothing in state law prevents patients from seeking physician-assisted suicide, making Montana the third state that will allow the procedure. Patients and doctors had been waiting for the state's high court to step in after a lower court decided a year ago that constitutional rights to privacy and dignity protect the right to die. The Montana Supreme Court opinion will now give doctors in the state the freedom to prescribe the necessary drugs to mentally competent, terminally ill...
